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Every day I have clients come in complaining of stiffness that just won’t go away. No matter how much they stretch, they just can’t loosen their muscles. For example, they want to bend their leg past a certain point, but it just won’t go. The thought is that their tight muscles are limiting their range of motion and if loosened, all will be well.
When in reality their stiffness has very little, if nothing to do with tightness of their muscles. Their rigidity has more to do with physics and fulcrums then tight muscles! If you forgot what a fulcrum is from high school physics, here’s the simple explanation:
The point on which a lever rests or is supported and on which it pivots.
Most of the major joints in the body, like the hip and the shoulder, are ball and socket joints. They rotate within a space and move as far as the capsule position will allow. Now if you noticed I said the “capsule’s position”, if the position is off or displaced then the range of motion will be limited. So what feels like tightness is actually an alignment issue. Return the alignment back to normal and so will return the full range of motion.
This same scenario can cause the misdiagnosis of many different conditions such as; carpal tunnel, tennis elbow, rotator cuff injuries, bursitis and knee pain just to name a few. So before you opt for going under the knife or getting an injection, make sure you truly understand where your problem is coming from first.
Author: Holden Zalma L.M.T, Alternative Health Practitioner and founder of the MetaTouch Technique and MetaTouch Therapeutic Massage and Wellness Center. www.metatouch.com
